Most Beautiful Places In The World # Part 17

Most Beautiful Places In The World

Monemvasia, Greece

Known as the Gibraltar of Greece, the island town of Monemvasia in the Peloponnisos was once a bustling 15th-century Byzantine city. The name “Monemvasia” translates to “one entrance”: It’s accessed through a single doorway that’s only wide enough to accommodate a loaded donkey.

Photograph by Franck Guiziou, Corbis

Yellowstone National Park

Frost paints Yellowstone’s Lower Geyser Basin white early one January morning. The world’s first national park doesn’t shut down during the long winter—cross-country skiing and snowmobiling are popular snowy activities.

Photograph by Jeff Vanuga, Corbis

Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia

Visitors to Croatia’s first—and largest—national park trod a wooden boardwalk snaking through grassy areas, over waterways, and past plunging waterfalls. The park’s 16 terraced lakes, formed by natural travertine dams, change colors throughout the day, from bright turquoise to gray, depending on the angle of the sun’s rays and the mineral makeup of the water.

Photograph by Eric Martin, Figarophoto/Redux

West London Walk

A woman takes an early morning walk in west London past doors painted blue, yellow, and red. These are the colors of the three main political parties currently in the United Kingdom—Conservative, Liberal Democrat, and Labour, respectively. Britain goes to the polls in a national election May 7.

Photograph by Toby Melville, Reuters

Bayon Temple at Angkor, Cambodia

One of the wonders at the temple complex of Angkor is Bayon, the state temple of Jayavarman VII, which stood at the center of Angkor Thom. The face towers are Bayon’s most distinguishing features. Of the 49 original towers, 37 remain; most are graced by four faces looking in the cardinal directions.

Photograph by Frank Heuer, laif/Redux

Lower Manhattan, New York

A glass and steel shell, the Fulton Center in Lower Manhattan was built in 2014 as an architecturally arresting space for commuters. More than 300,000 subway passengers pass through the building, which also houses retail shops.

Photograph by Wang Lei Xinhua, eyevine/Redux

Škocjan Caves, Slovenia

The Škocjan cave system in Slovenia, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is remarkable for several reasons. Two of them: It contains one of the world’s largest known underground river canyons and the Martel Chamber, one of the largest known underground chambers.

Photograph by Bob Krist, Corbis

Milan Duomo, Italy

Author Mark Twain called Milan’s cathedral, the Duomo, “a poem in marble” in 1869. The Gothic masterpiece has 2,245 statues, 135 spires, 96 gargoyles, and about half a mile of tracery—just on the exterior.

Photograph by Olivier Morin, AFP/Getty Images

Nā Pali Coast, Hawaii

Kokee State Park on Kauai provides a stunning view of Hawaii’s lush Nā Pali Coast. Golden beaches, hidden valleys, and soaring cliffs make this area a paradise for visitors.

Photograph by Paul Souders, Corbis

St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City

Huge colonnades designed by Neapolitan-born artist, sculptor, and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the 1600s provide a photo op centuries later. The large, elliptical St. Peter’s Square is the welcoming gateway to St. Peter’s Basilica, the most important church in Roman Catholicism.